


The Doctor is Out

by kappa77



Series: Of Speakeasies and Secrets (1920s AU) [2]
Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - Mob, And a touch of pining, Blood, Bribery, F/F, Gun Violence, Speakeasies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-27 11:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10807911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kappa77/pseuds/kappa77
Summary: The Queen of one of the largest speakeasy operations needs to have three things: she needs to be cold, calculated, and not get attached to her employees.Inien proves she's lacking the last one when a night at the bar goes sour.





	The Doctor is Out

_She wasn’t supposed to get hurt. That’s not her job. Her job is to fix people. She shouldn’t be the one in the bed._

Inien stayed silent, staring at Ashe’s chest, slowly rising up and down. There was barely room in the room for her, large clunky machines keeping her alive filled most of the room, with even more beds and machines taking up the rest. It wasn’t normally where Inien’s employees went if they got caught in the crossfire, but this was different.

This was Ashe.

-=-

As if Ashe getting shot wasn’t worse enough, it was a nobody. Not Xin, Gold, Rust, Lily, no one of fucking importance. It had been a normal night at the bar, a busy night, but a normal night. Colvin, recently come from Ukraine, was manning the bar. Sitting on bar stools were Markus, Gregor, and Kyr, the latter two men hanging on to every word as Markus wove a story he swore was true about life in Italy. Firi was singing with the band, shimmying and dancing and generally having a good time. Inien was leaned against the far wall across from the bar, where she usually would be looking over her domain, but tonight Ashe had caught her attention (but if she was being honest, that had been happening far more frequently), and they were talking, although Inien couldn’t remember what about.

She couldn’t remember much details before several bar patrons stood up, brandishing guns.

Everything became a flurry of movement. Firi and the band ran off-stage to cover, Markus and Kyr jumping behind the bar, Gregor grabbing his weapon, Zalvetta coming out from who knows where, knives in hand.

Inien made eye contact with the woman who looked to be the leader. The woman grinned, and everything went slow.

At a signal, too quick for Inien to notice, the goons lit up the room, seeming leaving Inien and Ashe out of the firefight

Gregor and Zalvetta threw themselves into the fight with Colvin vaulting over the bar.

Markus and Kyr peeking out behind the bar to provide covering fire with guns they had hidden underneath.

More people came to help upon hearing the guns, but Inien only had eyes on the woman, who had her gun raised at them.

Inien reached for hers in her bag.

A shot rang out, louder than the others.

Inien braced herself for the pain, but felt only warm hands shoving her away.

Another shot rang out, and another, and still, Inien was unharmed. The world sped up as she collided with the floor, landing on her hip hard. She blinked, confused there was no sharp, agonizing pain of a bullet on her chest.

She looked up and her blood ran cold.

Ashe stood a little off to the side of where Inien had landed, teeth gritted against the three bullets in her torso.

Inien saw red.

She grabbed her gun and barely had time to aim before her finger squeezed the trigger. A bullet went wide, clipping a goon in the shoulder. Another hit the wall behind the woman. Two finally hit the woman in the thighs, making her buckle.

She screamed obscenities as her medic fell to her knees. Inien aimed for the bitch’s head, but she whistled and her men rounded up and dragged her out, leaving the bar a mess. While the others paused to take in the carnage, Inien scrambled to Ashe’s side.

“Ashe, what the fuck!?”

A small smirk graced Ashe’s face. “Th-That’s… the l-last time… I save you I-I-I-” She coughed splattering blood in Inien’s face. “I-I-f tha’s the thanks I get.”

Then her eyes closed and for once, Inien was left speechless. Thog appeared out of nowhere – she hadn’t even see him come in during the fight. He placed his fingers on Ashe’s neck and Inien felt her heart lurch in her chest.

“She’s alive, but we’re gonna need to pay for a hospital.”

Despite her gut instinct telling her to never let go, to hold onto Ashe, she handed her to Thog.

A calm briefly filled her mind as she did what she did best; ordered people around.

“You and Gregor get in a cab and take her there.” She reached in her purse and pulled out what money she had. “This should keep them from asking questions for now. Then, you are going to find out who the _fuck_ that was!”

He nodded and called over Gregor. Taking the money, the two gently brought the hurt medic out to the street. Inien turned back to everyone else, hands now balled into fists.

“Everyone else, I want this place spotless. We are not losing business to some two-bit gang!”

No one argued with her.

-=-

Inien was there when the doctor walked in again. She didn’t pay much attention to him. Average height, average build, slicked back blond hair, a forgettable face to most.

“Ms. Kelly O’Connell was fine during the… surgery.” He clearly had never been paid off before; he was doing terribly. “There were two in her stomach and one in her chest, but she will recover fine. The bullets are out, not all she really needs is rest.”

“When will she wake up?” she asked flatly.

The doctor faltered. “We- We’re not sure, Miss-?”

“O’Connell.” That was never an alias she’d taken on. “I’m her cousin,” she added. 

“O-Oh, I’m sorry, Miss. I- I’ll leave you two alone.”

The door closed behind him. Inien mentally calculated how much more she’d need to pay off the guy.

Still, it was worth it.

Now if only she could stop replaying the last 24 hours…

-=-

As the dust settled in the bar, everyone started moving. There was the sound of a car door slamming as Thog and Gregor had the cab driver get them to the hospital. Everyone else made themselves busy, righting tables and chairs, determining if it was worthy or repair or not. No one questioned Inien as she ran to the safe in the back of the bar, cracked it open, and grabbed enough money to get Ashe to a hospital and extra to pay the doctors not to ask why this woman had three bullets in her torso.

A voice behind her cut her out of her reverie. “Inien-”

The bills in her hands crumbled. They needed to move, to see how Ashe was doing, if she had bled out in the cab, if the hospital would take her with a lie and cash. “Markus, don’t-!”

She was cut off by Markus hugging her. Her voice caught in her throat.

“Inien, we’re all worried for Ashe, but we need you. _Ashe_ needs you.”

The implication in that made her look up. She got a wink and against all better judgement, she felt a faint blush color her cheeks. It was disgusting.

“When did you-?”

“Inien,” Markus said, more grandly. “I’m Markus Velafi. It’s my job to know stuff, you just happen to make it easier when it comes to Ashe.”

Inien made a mental note not to fuck with Markus when it came to secrets.

“As I was saying, Ashe needs you. So, take a deep breath, make sure the bills don’t look fishy, and let’s get to the hospital.”

Inien swallowed her pride and took a breath before nodding. “Okay, let’s go.”

He smiled before helping her get the money in the bag.

“Oh wait!”

Inien stopped as Markus approached her, handkerchief in hand.

“You have a bit-” He wiped off some of the blood off of her face like a mother would a child. “There you go. Now let’s go.”

-=-

“You cannot sleep here. Only the injured can sleep here.”

This was a new doctor, someone Inien could read like a book, the words, “You don’t have enough money to pay us to stay overnight,” jumping out at her. His eyes said “I know how these bribes work, so don’t even try me.” The other doctor clearly asked for assistance in getting her out of the room.

Inien stood up and suddenly she felt the weight of the day press on her shoulders, the sudden burst of tiredness almost making her stagger, but she didn’t. With the last bit of dignity she felt, she smoothed out her dress and walked out of the room, without so much as a backward look at Ashe, still slowly breathing, still looking so off in the bed. As she left, she slipped a dollar bill in the doctor’s hand, who gave a slight nod before going into the room to check on Ashe.

Markus, Gregor, and Thog were all leaned against the wall, waiting. No one spoke as they exited the hospital, the only sound being Thog’s whistle as he hailed a cab. They all piled in and gave an address a block away from the bar.

Sometime along the ride, Markus leaned over and whispered to over to her, “Are you alright?”

She focused on the city out the window. “Just thinking.”

-=-

_Inien’s bar was already in the basement of a building, but the basement of the basement was nasty_

_“So, I’ve never heard you talk about family.”_

_Ashe gave a half-glare over to where Inien sat. “I never thought this was the place... or the time.” She tapped the man strapped to the table._

_“Nonsense, I want to know all of my employees. And beside,” She grinned and gestured to the basement area they currently were in. “now is as good a time as ever. So, is the rest of your family in America? Mom? Dad? Husband?”_

_That got a laugh out of Ashe as she continued working on the trembling man in front of her on the table. “No, no husband. My mom died during childbirth, and my dad got sick.”_

_Inien raised an eyebrow at that. “Sick? Were you out of the country during that?”_

_Ashe paused. “No.”_

_Another eyebrow raised. “But you were learning, weren’t you? Couldn’t you have fixed him up?”_

_“Well, I would’ve been able to save him if I had a degree, right?” She gave a rather forceful stab into the man’s arm, causing him to howl._

_Inien wouldn’t admit it, but her heart sped up at that. She let out a low whistle. “You sure are a firecracker.”_

_Ashe looked up from her work. “You have strange phrases here.”_

_“And you harps drink too much.”_

_“You Americans can’t hold your alcohol.”_

-=-

There was a lot of work to be done on the bar and in finding the idiots who thought it was a good idea to shoot up the place, but Inien always managed to find time to visit the hospital and just sit by Ashe. It would take a bit to recover financially from the destruction and the medical costs, but it was worth it.

Anything was worth Ashe waking up.

And it was on an unassuming day later that week, as Inien sat next to Ashe, that Ashe’s eyes fluttered opened followed by heavy coughing. Inien’s eyes widened as Ashe grumbled, looking around the room before finally settling on her.

“Inien-” She couldn’t get the rest of the words out as Inien wrapped her arms around Ashe’s midsection. She barely noticed the doctor’s walk into the room as

“You dumbass,” Inien said, words muffled in Ashe’s neck. She pressed a soft kiss to Ashe’s jawbone, hiding it from the doctor. Her arms wrapped around and squeezed hard.

Ashe let out a loud groan followed by a very rushed. “RibsRibsRibsRibsRibsRibs!”

“I’m not letting go,” Inien muttered into Ashe’s paper gown.

“Actually, you should,” the doctor said.

Without looking, Inien went digging in her purse before pulling out a five-dollar bill and held it out in the direction of the doctor’s voice. It disappeared from her hand.

“Ten minutes, then you have to leave so your… friend can get better.” His sentence was punctuated by the closing of the door.

Inien looked up at Ashe, looking paler than normal, but smiling and awake, and that’s all that mattered.

“What the fuck were you thinking, pushing me out of the way ?!” Inien exclaimed, sitting up.

Ashe sputtered. “I just wake up and that’s the hello I get? Not ‘Oh wow Ashe, I’m glad you didn’t die!’ or ‘Here Ashe, let me explain why I just kiss-’ ”

She was cut off by Inien’s lips on top of hers. Ashe threaded her fingers through Inien’s hair and Inien found herself thanking the lack of windows in the room.

They broke away too soon.

“Never again,” Inien whispered. But they both knew something like this would happen again. Hell, they could be in the same place next week. It came with the business.

Ashe leaned her forehead against hers. “Never.”

-=-

A week later, all the headlines for all the newspapers in the area said the same thing:

**Woman Kills Woman for Love of Other Woman.**

The entire story was hyped up far too much, focusing on the murderous intent of all lesbians. There was an added portion in the opinions section about the threat of _immigrant_ lesbians. Each paper left out how an entire mob had been taken overnight.

There was an amazing photo in the paper of two women, in the middle of the street, in the dead of night, kissing. Their faces were blocked by shadows and the blurriness of the film. The foreground showed the scores of bodies Inien and her gang had killed.

The article now proudly hangs in the bar, making Inien grin widely whenever someone points it out.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun note, that last headline, Woman Kills Woman for Love of Other Woman, that's a real headline (and i cant find a picture for the life of me ORZ) that ran in the 1920s. Crazy, right?
> 
> And, going by an inflation calculator, $5 in 1925 has the same buying power as $70 in 2017
> 
> Come talk to me! kappa776.tumblr.com


End file.
